Any student whose summer dream includes spending endless hours touring Hemingway's Paris, stopping for espresso and ice cream at his favorite cafe, and reading The Sun Also Rises, should consider entering the 2008 MTSU study abroad program.

There's no time like the present to register for the annual general education study-abroad program in Cherbourg, France, which will run from June 2 to June 27, 2008. At this beautiful port town in the Normandy region of northwest France, students will experience the history, art and culture of the area.

"With the general education program, a student can spend four weeks in Cherbourg and in Normandy, and they can begin studying French while they're there if they choose to, but they don't have to already know any French," Dr. Anne Sloan, assistant to the provost for international education, says.

Each class will be taught by a faculty member from Motlow State Community College, MTSU's partner in the Cherbourg program, or from MTSU itself. Dr. Claudia Barnett, professor of English, taught "An American in Europe" this year.

"What we read reflected and shaped our experiences," Barnett says. "Like the characters in the novels and the narrators of the essays, we experimented with foods, fashions and foreign phrases, and we enjoyed the nuances of cultural difference. We toured Hemingway's Paris, stopping for espresso and ice cream at his favorite cafe, when we read The Sun Also Rises... for five weeks, we read, wrote, ate and breathed France."

The classrooms will be at the Institut Universitaire de Technologie. Accommodations are only a 15-minute walk or a short bus ride away at Napoleon Bonaparte's former naval hospital, which has been converted into the IMC cinema school.

Sloan says each student will have his or her own room with a bath and kitchenette. Meal cards will be provided for lunches on class days; students are responsible for all other meals. Internet facilities will be available in the evening hours.

Normandy's reputation as a welcoming locale for tourists will provide students with numerous chances to explore Cherbourg and beyond during their nonclassroom hours.

"There are a lot of opportunities in Normandy to visit all sorts of sites," Sloan says. "There are all sorts of recreational opportunities."

MTSU student Erin Johnson, a native of Denmark, Tenn., and a veteran of an excursion to Cherbourg, enjoyed her time there so much that she yearns to go back.

"I went on field trips to London and Paris," Johnson says. "How often does a student get to say that? Most of the French friends we made knew English very well, so I didn't have to worry about being fluent in French. I made so many new friends (in France and also from MTSU), and I made even more unforgettable memories!"

"They're going to get to see and experience a great deal and, at the same time, fulfill one or two of their general education requirements," Sloan adds, emphasizing that taking advantage of this study-abroad opportunity early in a college career will be less likely to interfere with progress toward a degree.

The estimated cost of the program is $2,250 plus tuition and fees. Included in the cost are housing, ground transportation between Charles DeGaulle Airport in Paris and Cherbourg, meal cards, local bus passes, weekend field-trip transportation, admissions and housing. Other meals, day field trips, emergency medical co-pays and incidentals are out-of-pocket, as is round-trip transportation to Paris.

For more information, contact Sloan at 615-898-5091 or asloan@mtsu.edu, or Jennifer Campbell, director of international education and exchange, at 615-898-5179 or jjcampbe@mtsu.edu. MTSU faculty should visit gened.web.mtsu.edu and click on the "Study Abroad 2008" link to learn about course approval.

For more information, please visit the www.mtsu.edu.

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